The background description includes information that may be useful in understanding the present invention. It is not an admission that any of the information provided herein is prior art or relevant to the presently claimed invention, or that any publication specifically or implicitly referenced is prior art.
All publications herein are incorporated by reference to the same extent as if each individual publication or patent application were specifically and individually indicated to be incorporated by reference. Where a definition or use of a term in an incorporated reference is inconsistent or contrary to the definition of that term provided herein, the definition of that term provided herein applies and the definition of that term in the reference does not apply.
Year after year, the amount of data handled by the world's computer systems grows at a phenomenal rate. While fiber optic networks might be able to send tens of gigabytes of data per second, many networks are far slower and can't transmit data instantaneously from one computer to another. In order to optimize the use of data, it is frequently preferable to prioritize data transfer such that more important data is sent before less important data.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,272,605 to Hinshaw teaches a system for prioritizing data sent through a network by sending priority information with a database query or by prioritizing the transfer of some data types over other data types. Data retrieved by a query with a high priority are transferred faster than data retrieved by a query with a low priority and prioritized data types are transferred faster than data of other data types. Hinshaw's system, however, groups all data types into a single priority or groups all data in a single request into a single priority.
US 2006/0074961 to Kongalath teaches a method for prioritizing data sent through a network by dividing up a database into sections of high priority data and low priority data. Data retrieved from high priority sections of the database will the transferred faster than data retrieved from low priority sections of the database. Kongalath's method, however, fails to take into consideration how the data might be used by a data gleaner in order to prioritize data sent through the network.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,583,821 to Yuan teaches a method for prioritizing data sent through a network by providing rules that prioritize streaming data sources over other data sources. Streaming data sources are identified, for example, by analyzing a server or client IP addresses and port numbers and inferring whether the data source is a streaming data source or a lower priority data source (such as email or web page data). Yuan's method, however, also fails to take into consideration how the data might be used by a data gleaner in order to prioritize the data sent through the network.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,631,154 to Bartfai-Walcott teaches a method of prioritizing data sent through a network by assigning data to a service, and by prioritizing one service over another service. Data requested by a high priority service is sent faster than data requested by a lower priority service. Bartfai-Walcott's method, however, also fails to take into consideration how the data might be used by a data gleaner in order to prioritize the data sent through the network.
Thus, there remains a need for a system and method that prioritizes data transfer prior to injection into a network by taking into consideration how the data might be used by a data gleaner or recipient in order to prioritize the data sent through the network.